Agricultural conveyors including grain augers and the like are typically available in a variety of sizes to accommodate many different uses. It is desirable for manufacturers of various size augers to assembly the various models with as many common parts as possible to reduce costs and manufacturing complexity. Some manufacturers therefore attempt to manufacture the tubular auger housing and the rotatable auger member therein in modular sections. Conventional means of attaching modular sections of the auger housing involves end flanges oriented perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the auger housing which are fastened together.
Grain augers are typically mounted on a wheeled carriage which provides for height and/or inclination adjustment of the auger housing by supporting a portion of the carriage for sliding movement along the auger housing. In some instances, rollers of the carriage support the auger housing thereon, however known roller arrangements generally do not provide sufficient support between the carriage and the auger housing unless an additional track is provided along the auger housing.
Various prior art configurations of attaching a portion of the carriage for movement along the auger housing are disclosed in the following patent documents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,052, U.S. Pat. No. 3,139,968, U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,239, U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,591, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,917. Known prior art configurations of height adjustable carriages are not adaptable for use with end flanges for connecting adjacent modular sections of the auger housing if using a modular construction.
Driving rotation of the auger member relative to the auger housing typically requires a drive connection at the outlet end of the auger connecting to a drive member extending externally along the auger housing. The drive member can thus interfere with connection of the portion of the carriage which is movable along the auger housing. Connection of the drive member is further complicated when various sizes of augers are to be manufactured.
One type of auger member drive which simplifies the connection of the movable portion of the carriage to the auger housing and is more accommodating to a modular construction method is the use of an inline drive. Various prior art examples of inline drives for an auger are described in the following patent documents: U.S. Pat. No. 1,032,850, U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,168, UK Patent Application GB 2 025 881, GB Patent 596,632, U.S. Pat. No. 2,610,727, U.S. Pat. No. 2,103,145, U.S. Pat. No. 2,224,991, U.S. Pat. No. 2,769,526, U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,217, U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,301, U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,443, U.S. Pat. No. 2,998,123, U.S. Pat. No. 3,198,320, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,210. Known inline drive configurations are complex in construction and are generally considered too unreliable for regular use in grain augers.